Wednesday, February 01, 2017

About 900 U.S. State Department officials signed an internal dissent memo protesting a travel ban by U.S. President Donald Trump on refugees and travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, a source familiar with the document said on Tuesday, in a rebellion against the new president's policies.

A senior State Department official confirmed the memorandum had been submitted to acting Secretary of State Tom Shannon through the department's "dissent channel," a process in which officials can express unhappiness over policy.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Monday he was aware of the memo but warned career diplomats that they should either "get with the program or they can go."

A draft of the dissent memo seen by Reuters argued that the executive order would sour relations with affected countries, inflame anti-American sentiment and hurt those who sought to visit the United Spates for humanitarian reasons. It said the policy "runs counter to core American values of non-discrimination, fair play and extending a warm welcome to foreign visitors and immigrants.

I don't know about you, but I'm sensing a Reaganesque "air traffic controller" opportunity here. I doubt it will escape Darth Bannon. Let them double down. Then sweep the leg.

116 Comments:

Amazing how US history seems to have started about a day ago for the stripe pants set. George Kennan, famous for his containment strategy, was a strong immigration restrictionist, as have been most famous US diplomats.

I know others keep saying it, but I too love waking up in the morning, grabbing a hot mug, and walking into our Alt-Right camp, Visiting The Supreme Dark Lord's fire, talking with my fellow Minions, then trotting over to those mercs at the Fox News hearth & eagerly anticipating the latest news of our most recent Triumph. Silently willing Darth Bannon and The God Emperor ever onward.

Even I, one of kek's disciples who have been 100% on board with the GodEmperor since he proclaimed, Mexico, take back your rapists... did not foresee so much #Winning, so hard, so fast.

And now it looks like even the GOP house and senate are not immune from second-hand winning: news is that the Senate has decided to blow right past the feeble, low energy 'boycott' and change the rules to fast track the nominations.

While there can't be direct retribution for signing the dissent message, it certainly gives the administration a list of people to keep an eye on. This is very similar to the "never Trump" document as Vox pointed out in an earlier post.

Scott wrote:While there can't be direct retribution for signing the dissent message, it certainly gives the administration a list of people to keep an eye on. This is very similar to the "never Trump" document as Vox pointed out in an earlier post.

There's a theory that says the Earth's magnetic poles switch places once in a great while. It feels like that's happened in politics. Our side is scoring with the killer rhetoric, while the other side suddenly can't decide what insults still work. Our side is discovering energetic new leaders and promoting new ideas; the other sides (both left and cucks) are still relying on the same old institutions and formulas for failure. Our side is winning; the others are trying to keep up.

I am noticing liberals are starting to switch tactics and concern troll more now. Saying things like yes the Obama's action against Cuban immigrants was wrong and we should not continue with that by supporting Trump's immigration restrictions as well. "Lets all do what's right for America now." They never said anything about the Cuban ban before but showed up when Trump started taking action.

Does the president need reasons to fire people in his own branch anyway? I thought it was pretty typical for administrations to clear out much of the previous one, especially when there's a change in party, to open up patronage positions for campaign workers and donors. I know there are many career bureaucrats, but I thought that was for the sake of keeping the paperwork moving, not because they have some kind of tenure and can't be fired.

No? Can't he fire everyone at State if he wants to? (I hate to think how many seat-warmers there are, if 900 is somehow a minority.)

A bunch of [expletitive deleted] idealistic world-improvers mis-educated by Alinsky-ites who teach Poli Sci, Sociology, Econ, and such at Big Name U.

These are the ASSHOLES who were sent to the Green Zone to "administer" Iraq post-invasion. A bunch of 20-somethings full of youthful zeal and self-assuredness borne of arrogance and contempt for their "lessers."

IOW, people who work for the State Dept are the very worst of the worst kinds of people, who think engaging in a real-life game of RISK(tm) is fun.

He has the list of names. Even if he is not allowed to fire them there are many other tactics that can be employed.

"Cutting the budget" through across the board pay cuts while, interestingly enough, people not on the list some how get frequent merit bonuses. Continue to push policies they dislike and perform thorough followups to make sure these employees are not being insubordinate etc. They will voluntarily quit eventually.

There is a difference between political appointees (PAs) and civil service employees (CSEs). PAs can be fired at will, CSEs cannot. To release CSE's you have to show cause, which is a defined process and takes time and documentation. The quick way out for CSE positions that require a clearance is finding a reason to revoke the clearance - that results in immediate removal from the job, not necessarily from Civil service. At least they are not working in the problematic position any more.

IOW, people who work for the State Dept are the very worst of the worst kinds of people, who think engaging in a real-life game of RISK(tm) is fun.

Can 'em all. Let them go stock shelves at a dept store.

It's and open secret that the State Department is one of the most corrupt federal bureaucracies. It's populated by Ivy league Poli-sci majors who are not smart/charismatic enough to get elected into political office or serve as a congressional staffer.

Congress can fix the civil service regulations to make them easier to fire. People have a lot of nerve when there aren't consequences. Seems like the firepower from the Left is always more well directed than from the Right.

@28, thank you. That raises an interesting point. When the Clintons came into the White House in 1992, one of the minor scandals that was swept under the rug was the fact that many of the people they wanted to hire couldn't get a security clearance because of prior drug use. At the time, that was pretty much a disqualifier, and how many people of their generation never did drugs?

As I recall, they just brought people in anyway, gave them temporary security passes, and skipped the background checks. So I wonder how many people are working there today who never really got vetted? Could be interesting.

The Foreign Service is a corps of some 13,000 employees dedicated to representing America abroad and responding to the needs of American citizens living and traveling around the world. The Department’s Civil Service, totaling more than 11,000 employees, provides continuity and expertise in accomplishing all aspects of the Department’s mission. There are also more than 45,000 locally employed Foreign Service staff at overseas posts.

@2 pyrrhus: "Amazing how US history seems to have started about a day ago for the stripe pants set. George Kennan, famous for his containment strategy, was a strong immigration restrictionist, as have been most famous US diplomats."

As Steve Sailer would say, it's always 1939 for these people. God, the ills that have come about as a result of that damned war - eternal muh holocaust, White guilt, nation of immigrants, race is a social construct, equalitarianism, and refugees. I realize the roots of many of those things go back earlier, but the majority of the White population was still fairly rational back then - saw a graph (at Sailer's?) showing that in '39, more than 60% of Americans did NOT want to allow in 10,000 Jewish "orphans" - and I'd argue not a one would have felt guilt about it - nor should they have.

Let State starve for lack of funds. As bad as FSOs were in my day, they're 100 times worse now, all Jews, magic minorities, and gays. Nary a one concerned with historic America (commenters Sherwood and Jourdan excluded, of course). Foggy Bottom needs to be nuked and the ground needs to be salted.

Fair play? Like building B-29s when the Japanese could barely muster a light twin-engine bomber? U.S. history has been nothing but sweeping the leg. Firing 16" shells from the USS Missouri at Iraqi command targets during Gulf War I. Carpet bombing Cambodia. "Arresting" Noriega. Invading Grenada to help "medical students." Terminating Jack Kennedy, his brother and most likely his son because Jack tried to play fair. The U.S. is so adept at leg sweeping that they had to fire MacArthur because his Korean winning got out of line. They're the only country who managed to walk out of WWII having made a profit. My goodness the old days are back.

^My comment at #41 was in response to the end of the quoted text: It said the policy "runs counter to core American values of non-discrimination, fair play and extending a warm welcome to foreign visitors and immigrants.

@38 saw a graph (at Sailer's?) showing that in '39, more than 60% of Americans did NOT want to allow in 10,000 Jewish "orphans" - and I'd argue not a one would have felt guilt about it - nor should they have.

They were 9 years into the Great Depression. "Me and Mine First" is an easy choice when lifeboat ethics are front-and-center.

Americans haven't endured hardship for a very, very long time, so inertia remains on the side of "Guns and Butter for Everyone!" Only those who grasp consequences have embraced lifeboat ethics now.

Once social psychology changes enough, many more people will embrace LB ethics, and as night follows day and bear follows bull (at commensurate scale), in-grouping within LB Ethics will make today's Trumpism look like Kumbaya in comparison.

@38 Obama was apparently headed for a diplomatic career and a wealthy blonde wife (according to Sailer, Obama was passing for white at the time) before he decided to marry Black and go into politics....With his political skills, Obama might have ended up as Secretary of State.

Does anyone else deal with SJWs arguing but throwing 100 different things at you at a time so you can't possible respond to everything? Is there a specific term for that? I just declare my participation over at that point. I'm not spending all my day responding to 20 bullet points of mostly unrelated arguments.

I know from past experience working for the Feds that while it may be extremely difficult to fire a federal employee, management has no shortage of ways to make your life miserable. In the case of these employees, perhaps new office space can be found for them in a drafty warehouse in the most dangerous part of D.C. They can be stripped of all duties and sit in their offices watching paint dry for the next 8 years - you're getting paid, shut up. And even though you have nothing to do, you'd better be there from 8-5 every day. Etc, etc. I've seen similar things happen.

I've just gotten off the phone with Mr. Vox Day - great guy, really smart. Terrific, believe me. And he's got - get this, you're gonna love this folks - he's got an army of minions, minions, and he wants to put them to work making America Great Again.

So with this executive order, I am replacing all existing staff of the Department of State with "Ilk", "Dread Ilk", and "Vile Faceless Minions."

We're going to discuss changes at the Department of Education tomorrow. The only way to describe those changes are "rabid".

I hope he delays the purge a little. Give it a few days and a few more agencies will come out with their own list of those volunteering for execution. Need Justice Dept. and IRS to get in on the virtue signalling race.

Trump could fill some of those 900 positions with the Dread Ilk and VFM

He needs to get the Soros clan busted & pizzagate burned so I can get my "Don't Garrote Fewer Felons Than A Fag0t" live game show going. TRUMP can trade a guaranteed win for PUTIN during the Soros episode for major concessions.

Who are these idiots all over the place who think that groveling and appeasement are the paths to peace? I mean, seriously—why is that paradigm so firmly rooted in the media, the government, the DNC and the cucks?

Even if he can't directly "fire" them, couldn't Trump have their building passes and network/email passwords de-activated? Then tell them that their new office is in a warehouse on the other side of town. All 900 can just sit at desks all day and do crossword puzzles, read the paper, etc. No wi-fi access.

After a year of this, come around and offer some kind of "early retirement" buyout.

Gaiseric wrote:Who are these idiots all over the place who think that groveling and appeasement are the paths to peace?Paid Soviet agents.

I mean, seriously—why is that paradigm so firmly rooted in the media, the government, the DNC and the cucks?The older ones worked for the Reds for decades, and came to believe that Communism was good and inevitable. The younger ones grew up listening to Soviet propaganda and weren't smart enough to see through it (or else they would have joined at least the Alt-Lite by now).

I would gladly see the whole thing shuttered and go back to shoveling vegetables at the frozen food factory if it would cut the fat and waste and bring in a coherent foreign policy in contrast to what we have now.

#7139 wrote:Maybe the 900 officials in the State Department are too young to remember Reagan and the air traffic controllers.

Maybe so. Let's give them a refresher course:

https://infogalactic.com/info/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_(1968)"On August 5, following the PATCO workers' refusal to return to work, Reagan fired the 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored the order, and banned them from federal service for life."

"According to labor historian Joseph A. McCartin, the 1981 strike and defeat of PATCO was 'one of the most important events in late twentieth century U.S. labor history'."

The most important takeaway is the fact that aircraft continued to take off, fly, and land without PATCO, during and after the strike, right on down to the present moment.

Glad to see 900 State Department flunkies come out into the open... hope is that more, in other agencies, come out into the light..... we need to cull the government employees like that by about 75%.... the more that quit mooching off the government trough, for a high pension, the better.... then we can hire VETERANS to take their place!

Trump said on the campaign trail that he thought moving Federal jobs to impoverished areas of America would be a good idea. No reason the State Department cannot be run out of Detroit. The lease rates on office space would save a ton of money.

The "dissent channel" cable offers protection to diplomats who send one. The cookie pushers can't be fired or receive negative annual reviews just because they sent or signed one. However, whoever drafted this particular dissent cable has screwed up by the numbers. First, they released the cable to the NYT before transmitting it on the State Department's cable system. As dissent cables are meant to be internal communiques this move, arguably, waived the protections afforded. Secondly, the cable was classified "SBU" which means "Sensitive but Unclassified"; government types are specifically prohibited from transmitting SBU stuff to the public. It's the lowest form of classification...but it still has rules attached to it. So these folks have just opened up an argument for having their clearances pulled. But I suppose an internal cable doesn't allow one to virtue signal strongly enough for some.

I hope he delays the purge a little. Give it a few days and a few more agencies will come out with their own list of those volunteering for execution. Need Justice Dept. and IRS to get in on the virtue signalling race.

Standard Communist tactic, let the first brave protesters go without reprisal, let the not so brave join them on day two, go all Tienanmen Square on them on day three. A good chunk of the resistance wiped out in one.

They are going full "concern troll" with this. I have already seen stories about an infant and an elderly woman who have both supposedly died because of this common sense measure. If they were so close to death, I really doubt any doctor would have given them clearance to fly to the US in the first place. Even if they are real, why is it the responsibility of the US tax payer to provide care to random Iranians and Sudanese who need life saving medical care?

If Trump cannot fire them, then he should transfer all of them to overseas assignments like Togo, Angola and give them literally nothing to do. Let them rot is the worse possible assignments. Move them to another horrible place after 3 years, again with nothing to do. Eventually they will learn that "We are the world" is an empty slogan that does not represent reality.

@54 JCB: "I know from past experience working for the Feds that while it may be extremely difficult to fire a federal employee, management has no shortage of ways to make your life miserable."

There are millions of ways, and it has no need to be political. When I refused to sign a visa as per my right (was asked by supervisor to re-interview someone that another officer had denied a visa to, after request of Consul General as a result of pressure on her from local government), my immediate supervisor also declined to sign/issue the visa (she was retiring so didn't worry about consequences). Therefore the Consul General, who insisted despite our opinions that the visa be issued anyway, had to sign it herself, although my detailed interview and well-written and reasoned report clearly documented the individual was clearly intending on going and remaining as an immigrant. Which, of course, he did, immediately adjusting status, and leaving egg on Consul General's face. That, added to various other issues we had had, led her to lodge an official protest against my upcoming post alleging all sorts of unfitness and generally trying to either get me fired or make me miserable enough to quit.

Hell, I vote for "McCarthy era" loyalty oaths, blood tests, whatever it takes. Get rid of them all!!

I like that idea of relocating agencies out of D.C. because we haven't won until the D.C. real estate market crashes. Tossing a few hundred thousand people out to the most depressed markets would do nicely.

Imagine the horror. They have to sell their homes in a crashing market then buy in a Democrat Hellhole. They would lose like crazy on paper but end up with a bigger and 'better' home... except for the crime infested hellhole with terrible schools part that, as progs, they couldn't really complain about. Longer term all those people would 'gentrify' islands in the urban sprawl and help seed recovery, especially if the God Emperor dropped the law and order hammer hard enough. #MAGA

John Morris wrote:I like that idea of relocating agencies out of D.C. because we haven't won until the D.C. real estate market crashes. Tossing a few hundred thousand people out to the most depressed markets would do nicely.

Imagine the horror. They have to sell their homes in a crashing market then buy in a Democrat Hellhole. They would lose like crazy on paper but end up with a bigger and 'better' home... except for the crime infested hellhole with terrible schools part that, as progs, they couldn't really complain about. Longer term all those people would 'gentrify' islands in the urban sprawl and help seed recovery, especially if the God Emperor dropped the law and order hammer hard enough. #MAGAI suggest either a border town in southern California, or the inner city of some Mogadishu look-alike like Chicago, Atlanta or St. Louis.

Many thanks for remembering me and Sherwood out here in the trenches. It's tough. I'm in a small consulate and I have two colleagues, chiefs of sections, who neither speak to me nor acknowledge my presence.

One of the few mistakes I've thought Trump made was in his minor quasi purge of State. I thought it would have been better to have infiltrated both State and the Agency with informers, those identifying who needed to go, and dumping them without warning. After the quasi-purge, I expected they'd go into deep cover, to emerge under some new, more "enlightened" (marca registrada) regime. I expected digging them out to be much harder or even impossible after that.

But, ya know, if they're going to be this fucking stupid, then my objections are moot.

That said, it is not a resignation letter and they probably have some kind of job protection. Not to worry, though, there are some really horrid assignments with State and, while the pay is much better in those assignments, they still can't fill them very well. Moreover, our good buddies, the RIF, can probably be employed to overrun and massacre various embassies and consulates where this worthless shits are sent, thus further incentivizing them to submit actual resignations.

God, I love that first line! They say "internal dissent memo". The God-Emperor says "resignation letter"

I don't know if "swamp-draining" is the right term - it feels more like calling in the mother ship from another galaxy, instantly vacuuming up the filth through a giant hose, then teleporting all the muck off to Cygnus X-1

That argument type is called sandbagging, where they pile up crap to try to build an argument. It is poor dialectic but often used rhetorically. I'm No rhetoric master but perhaps a response along the lines of "none of that is evidence of your point, but keep piling bullshit up and you can hang your hat on it"...

"I don't know about you, but I'm sensing a Reaganesque "air traffic controller" opportunity here. I doubt it will escape Darth Bannon. Let them double down. Then sweep the leg."

Heh heh heh. The dissent channel's been around for decades. Arguably the most famous cable was the Blood Telegram. And, Sweep the Leg you say?

"core American values of non-discrimination... and extending a warm welcome to foreign visitors and immigrants.' They don't know much history, do they? Of course, if they did they wouldn't be lefties."

@4 But but but job difficulties in host country!

"Maybe the 900 officials in the State Department are too young to remember Reagan and the air traffic controllers."

@9 I'll have to ask a buddy who is DSS if he's heard or seen anything funny. This is too damn good.

"There are many of us, severely under-employed, who view such resignations with great hope."

@14 And? Planning a career jump are we?

"I know there are many career bureaucrats, but I thought that was for the sake of keeping the paperwork moving, not because they have some kind of tenure and can't be fired."

@22 If I recall correctly, albeit as a lowly intern, you usually get tenure after three tours with State. Then, minus criminal offenses, you're golden. Would Sherwood or Shelia like to comment? Also, yes, yes it does feel good to be winning with killer metric.

"Who goes to work for the US Dept of State?"

@26 In my own defense, I have applied (including limited non career appointments) 10 times in the past 7 years. Call me idealistic but I view it as protecting our country. Just my 2¢. Then again, given how right wing I am, not sure if they'd give me tenure had I ever gotten in, heh.

"It's populated by Ivy league Poli-sci majors who are not smart/charismatic enough to get elected into political office or serve as a congressional staffer."

@29 I interned on the Hill between under grad and grad school. Congressional staffers get paid next to nothing.

"Let State starve for lack of funds. As bad as FSOs were in my day, they're 100 times worse now, all Jews, magic minorities, and gays. Nary a one concerned with historic America (commenters Sherwood and Jourdan excluded, of course). Foggy Bottom needs to be nuked and the ground needs to be salted."

@38 Salted, LOL.

"Do we need a state department?"

@43 As long as we have diplomatic relations with other countries, spring breakers in Cancún, and companies that operate outside the U.S. in other countries, yep.

" Secondly, the cable was classified "SBU" which means "Sensitive but Unclassified"; government types are specifically prohibited from transmitting SBU stuff to the public. It's the lowest form of classification...but it still has rules attached to it. So these folks have just opened up an argument for having their clearances pulled. But I suppose an internal cable doesn't allow one to virtue signal strongly enough for some."

@78 Ooooh! You beat me to it! I was just about to say if there was any classified information in there...oooh, I sense 900 people having (or whoever the moron(s) was (were)) having an issue with their SF-86s....

"Shiela4g -

Many thanks for remembering me and Sherwood out here in the trenches. It's tough. I'm in a small consulate and I have two colleagues, chiefs of sections, who neither speak to me nor acknowledge my presence."

praetorian wrote:Just go for the emotional kill and laugh.So much this. "Why do you want children to be molested by Mexicans? It absolutely happens. Do you get off thinking about that? Does it turn you on to imagine an 8-year-old like little Maddie being raped to death by someone with dark skin? What kind of a fucking child molester are you?"

@Eduardo"Barry? Passing for white XD?"Depends on the setting, I guess. I seem to recall that he lost his first political contest to in Chicago to a (black) opponent whose campaign was basically "Are you serious? This guy's not black."

@John Morris"...except for the crime infested hellhole with terrible schools part that, as progs, they couldn't really complain about."

I believe that you're underestimating the leftist tolerance for cognitive dissonance here. Wanting your children to go to "good schools" isn't "racism." It's merely a matter of finding the correct physical plant; the optimal combination of bricks and mortar, that will allow your child to learn properly. They will most certainly object to the "bad schools;" they just won't be able to articulate why they are bad. Just as good, I suppose.

"Would sour relations with affected countries". How good are our relations with countries that Obama saw fit to put travel restrictions on? How stupid does someone have to be to think this will make any real difference in our relations with those countries?

Only 900 may have signed, but I would guess about 95% of the rest agree with dissent cable, but didn't sign out of fear for their careers. I personally know of people in this situation: they wanted to sign, but didn't out of fear for what it might mean for their careers under a Trump administration.

The funny thing is that Trump is so widely reviled within the State Department that openly expressing support for him would also be career suicide--too many supervisors who have the power over your employee evaluations would look very unfavorably on it and give you low ratings to sabotage your career if you said anything positive about the President.

The State Department has a very rigorous, meritocratic recruitment system to pick Foreign Service Officers (diplomats), but then also has several BIG fellowship programs to let them still hire minorities who can't make it into State under the normal process. There are no such fellowship programs to bring any kind of ideological diversity.

It is VERY rare to find any conservatives at State. And if you are conservative, you NEVER mention it, for self-preservation. Out of my entering orientation class of 50-75 people (don't want to give exact numbers and out myself) there were only two conservatives--me and one other guy.

Only 900 may have signed, but I would guess about 95% of the rest agree with the dissent cable, but didn't sign out of fear for their careers. I personally know of people in this situation: they wanted to sign, but didn't out of fear for what it might mean for their careers under a Trump administration.

The funny thing is that Trump is so widely reviled within the State Department that openly expressing support for him would also be career suicide--too many supervisors who have the power over your employee evaluations would look very unfavorably on it and give you low ratings to sabotage your career if you said anything positive about the President.

The State Department has a very rigorous, meritocratic recruitment system to pick Foreign Service Officers (diplomats), but then also has several BIG fellowship programs to let them still hire minorities who can't make it into State under the normal process. There are no such fellowship programs to bring any kind of ideological diversity.

It is VERY rare to find anyone on the right at State. And if you are, you NEVER mention it, for self-preservation. Out of my entering orientation class of 50-75 people (don't want to give exact numbers and out myself) there were only two of us--me and one other guy.

Blacks in Chicago deemed Obama not black enough to be mayor. That's why he started going to Wright's church and doing other things to try to build up his black cred. He'd never spent much time around blacks before, so he didn't fit in with them. No one ever looked at him and thought he was white, though.

Michael Neal wrote:Does anyone else deal with SJWs arguing but throwing 100 different things at you at a time so you can't possible respond to everything? Is there a specific term for that?It's called the Gish Gallop, after creatonut Duane Gish.

And I'm sure the refugees will work very, very diligently at these jobs. I have no doubt about it.

Refugees, when they enter a country seeking, um, refuge, are not supposed to get jobs. (Well, except for make-work.) They are supposed to be in refugee camps, where they can wait and be monitored until the trrrble, trrrble disasters which forced them to flee have at last been resolved, and then they can happily return to their beloved native land.

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